This July, the Russell Kirk Center’s new School of Conservative Studies hosted its first in-person seminar, “The American Political Novel,” welcoming a select group of scholars and professionals to Mecosta. This program highlighted the intersection of politics, literature, and the moral imagination.

Dr. David Hein, the Center’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow and author of Teaching the Virtues, guided the discussions, delivered lectures, and incorporated writing prompts on which participants received thoughtful feedback.

The seminar centered on a careful study of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, which literary critic Sanford Pinsker called “the best serious novel about politics ever written in America.” Participants examined the themes of virtue and vice, power and corruption, the difficult balance between ends and means, and the enduring reality of human imperfectability—proof of why All the King’s Men remains as relevant today as when it was first published.

As Russell Kirk reminded us, “Real literature is something much better than a harmless instrument for getting through idle hours. The purpose of great literature is to help us to develop into full human beings.” This inaugural seminar of the School of Conservative Studies embodied that conviction—inviting participants not only to read a great work, but to wrestle with its moral truths and deepen their understanding of the human condition.